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Childcare vouchers

The City of Bern uses childcare vouchers to make childcare in day care centres for young children (Kitas) less expensive for parents.

Who is eligible for a childcare voucher?

You can apply for childcare vouchers if all of the following are true:

Your legal domicile (under civil law) is in the city of Bern.

You and your partner are employed (incl. self-employed), enrolled in an officially recognised training programme, registered at the regional employment centre or qualify on the basis of social circumstances or a health condition.

Your family's relevant income is below CHF 158,690 (CHF 160,280 for vouchers with effect from 1 August 2017).

The day care centre participates in the voucher system and has promised to make a place available for your child.

If you have not yet found a childcare place, please consult our list of day care centres. This includes all of the Kitas that participate in the voucher system.

What to do:

Once you have found a place at a Kita, you can submit your application to the Youth Welfare Office; as of 15 March 2017, you can do so online using Ki-Tax if you wish. We will then review your application and calculate the amount of the voucher. The calculated amount will be transferred each month directly to the day care centre, which will deduct this amount from your day care bill.

Vouchers are valid for a maximum of one year, i.e. all vouchers expire on the 31st of July of each year. You will need to reapply for a childcare voucher every year.

Please note: We do not accept retroactive voucher applications, so please submit your application on time.

What to expect:

The voucher amount depends on a family's net income and assets, with five percent of the latter factored in. You can use the rate calculator (in German language) to calculate approximately the amount of the City’s contribution.

Data protection

Calculating a voucher amount requires the input of sensitive data, such as the complete tax declaration. Needless to say, data is treated as confidential. However, you have the right to redact information that is not relevant, as described in the fact sheet on data protection (in German, PDF, 178 KB) (PDF, 178.6 KB).

Note for interested Kitas

Forms

You will not need to fill in the application form or the employment rate form (available for download via links below) if you are submitting an online application for a childcare voucher for the period beginning 1 Aug. 2017. Please see our Ki-Tax site to find out more about the online application.